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Dr Yuwei Xu

Dr Yuwei Xu εΎηŽ‰η‚œ

Co-Director of Taught Courses and Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education

School of Education, University of Nottingham

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ United Kingdom
+44 115 951 3708
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About

Dr Yuwei Xu joined the School of Education, University of Nottingham as an Assistant Professor in 2021 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2023. He is the founder and co-convenor of the Global Childhoods Research Group (GCRG), a core member of the Committee for UNESCO Chair in International Education and Development, and was MA Education course leader until 2023/24. From 2025, Yuwei takes up the role of Co-Director of Taught Courses in the School of Education (2025-2027). Previously, Yuwei has held academic positions at University College London (2019-2021) and the University of Portsmouth (2016-2019).

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Research Focus
Gender and men in early childhood education LGBT teachers Child agency Child-centred diversity Quality education Parenting Women in STEM Cross-cultural research
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Education
  • PhD β€” University of Glasgow, Scotland (2018)
  • MA in Child Studies β€” King's College London (KCL, 2012)
  • BEd in Early Childhood Education β€” Shanxi University, China (2011)
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Academic Appointments

Current: Co-Director of Taught Courses and Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education, University of Nottingham (2025-2027)

  • Associate Professor β€” University of Nottingham (2023-present)
  • Assistant Professor β€” University of Nottingham (2021-2023)
  • Academic Position β€” University College London (2019-2021)
  • Academic Position β€” University of Portsmouth (2016-2019)
  • Founder and Co-convenor β€” Global Childhoods Research Group (GCRG)
  • Core Member β€” Committee for UNESCO Chair in International Education and Development
  • MA Education Course Leader β€” University of Nottingham (until 2023/24)
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External Roles
  • Co-Editor-in-Chief β€” Children & Society
  • Co-Editor-in-Chief β€” Pedagogy, Culture and Society
  • Co-Editor-in-Chief β€” British Educational Research Journal
  • Editor β€” Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice
  • Editorial Board Member β€” Early Years: An International Research Journal
  • Editorial Board Member β€” Journal of Childhood, Education & Society
  • Council Member and England Representative β€” British Educational Research Association (BERA)
  • Membership Lead β€” Gender and Education Association
  • Executive Member β€” The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET)
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Publications

Books (Edited Volumes)

Brody, D., Xu, Y., Emilsen, K., & Coles, L. (Eds.) (2025). Young Children's Perspectives on Teacher Gender: Contextualizing Gender Stereotypes and Inclusive Practices in Early Childhood Education and Care. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003401049

Bhana, D., Xu, Y., & Adriany, V. (Eds.) (2024). Gendered and Sexual Norms in Global South Early Childhood Education: Understanding Normative Discourses in Post-Colonial Contexts. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003211600

Journal Articles

Coles, L., Sullivan, V., Xu, Y., & Thorpe, K. (2026). At the margin and in the centre: How men working in early childhood education and care frame their role. Community, Work & Family. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2026.2621909

Guo, K., Zhu, Y., Gao, J., Xu, Y., Wang, Y., & Qu, X. (2026). Doing ethics without a 'Map': How Chinese researchers develop ethical awareness in research with children. International Journal of Educational Research, 136, 102914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2025.102914

Li, X., Chen, W., Chen, Z., Li, S., & Xu, Y. (2026). Rethinking Quality in Early Childhood Education (ECE) from Chinese Children's Perspectives. British Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.70244

Lehner-Mear, R., Dixon, K., Xu, Y., Gripton, C., & Cooker, L. (2026). Gender as an issue of curricular (in)justice: A review of national early childhood education curriculum documents in England from 1996–2021. The Curriculum Journal, 37(1), 88–106. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.326

Wang, Y., Chen, Z., & Xu, Y. (2026). Chinese migrant children's constructions of transnational childhood in Norway. Childhood, 33(1), 50–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/09075682261418399

Hoskins, K., Wainwright, E., Arabaci, R., Zhai, J., Gao, J., & Xu, Y. (2025). Engaging low-income families in education research: examining the challenges in Beijing and London. Compare, 56(5), 625–643. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2024.2429825

Lehner-Mear, R., Xu, Y., Liu, C., Yu, Y., Toran, M., Sak, R., & Şahin-Sak, Δ°. T. (2025). Chinese and Turkish parents' reflective parenting. Journal of Family Studies, 31(6), 1021–1044. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2025.2495305

Wainwright, E., Hoskins, K., Arabaci, R., Zhai, J., Gao, J., & Xu, Y. (2025). Researching the everyday educational lives of low-income families. British Journal of Educational Studies, 73(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2024.2378053

Xu, Y., Barton, S., Chen, H., & Pratt, S. (2025). Universality versus culturality in early childhood education (ECE). Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 48(4), 863–892. https://doi.org/10.1177/02103702251379108

Xu, Y., Brooks, C., Gao, J., & Kitto, E. (2025). The manifestations of universality and cultural specificity in national curriculum policy frameworks. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 33(2), 655–674. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2023.2267594

Zhao, T., Xu, Y., Yu, Y., & Liu, Z. (2024). Understanding secondary school students' agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon. Compare, 54(7), 1155–1170. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2179870

Hoskins, K., Thu, T., Xu, Y., Gao, J., & Zhai, J. (2023). Me, my child and Covid-19: Parents' reflections on their child's experiences of lockdown in the UK and China. British Educational Research Journal, 49(3), 455–475. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3850

Hoskins, K., Xu, Y., Gao, J., & Zhai, J. (2023). Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of COVID-19 in global contexts. Children & Society, 37(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12664

Liu, C., & Xu, Y. (2023). When the UNCRC meets Confucianism: Chinese parents' understanding of children's right to play. Childhood, 30(2), 177–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/09075682231151848

Sullivan, V., Coles, L., Xu, Y., & Thorpe, K. (2023). Men Times Ten: Does the presence of more men support inclusion of male educators in ECEC? Gender and Education, 35(1), 18–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2022.2137106

Zhu, Y., Wang, Y., Xu, Y., & Tan, R. (2023). (Re)Constructing equality, diversity, and inclusion in Chinese childhoods. Global Studies of Childhood, 13(2), 95–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106231178008

Bhana, D., Moosa, S., Xu, Y., & Emilsen, K. (2022). Men in Early Childhood Education and Care: On navigating a gendered terrain. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 30(4), 543–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2022.2074070

Gao, J., Xu, Y., Kitto, E., Bradford, H., & Brooks, C. (2022). Promoting culturally-sensitive teacher agency in Chinese kindergarten teachers. Early Years, 42(1), 55–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2021.1901661

Liu, D., Xu, Y., Zhao, T., & Che, S. (2022). Academic Career Development of Chinese Returnees with Overseas PhD Degrees. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 859240. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.859240

Xu, Y., Schweisfurth, M., & Read, B. (2022). Men's participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC): Comparative perspectives from Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China. Comparative Education, 58(3), 345–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2022.2062950

Yu, Y., Cheng, M., & Xu, Y. (2022). Understanding international postgraduate students' educational mobility to China. Higher Education Research & Development, 41(6), 2137–2153. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2021.1973383

Zhao, T., & Xu, Y. (2022). Participation or eschewal? Final-year secondary school students' attitudes towards participation in higher education in Cameroon. South African Journal of Education, 42(4), 2126. https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n4a2126

Berriman, L., Bhana, D., Crafter, S., Robb, M., & Xu, Y. (2021). Engaging diversities in a changing world. Children & Society, 35(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12427

Song, J., Chu, Z., & Xu, Y. (2021). Policy decoupling in strategic response to the double world-class project. Higher Education, 82(2), 255–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00642-y

Tesar, M., ... Xu, Y., ... & Arndt, S. (2021). Infantographies. Educational Philosophy and Theory. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2021.2009341

Toran, M., Sak, R., Xu, Y., Şahin-Sak, Δ°. T., & Yu, Y. (2021). Parents and children during the COVID-19 quarantine process. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 19(1), 21–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X20977583

Sullivan, V., Coles, L., Xu, Y., Perales, F., & Thorpe, K. (2020). Beliefs and attributions: Insider accounts of men's place in ECEC. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 21(2), 126–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949120929462

Xu, Y. (2020). Does the gender of a practitioner matter in early childhood education and care (ECEC)? Children & Society, 34(5), 354–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12371

Xu, Y. (2020). Gender-diverse practitioners in early years education and care (EYEC): a cross-cultural study of Scotland, Hong Kong, and Mainland China. Early Years, 40(1), 109–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2019.1683816

Xu, Y., Warin, J., & Robb, M. (2020). Beyond gender binaries: pedagogies and practices in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Early Years, 40(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2020.1728077

Xu, Y., & Waniganayake, M. (2018). An exploratory study of gender and male teachers in early childhood education and care centres in China. Compare, 48(4), 518–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1318355

Book Chapters (Selected)

Xu, Y., Ljunggren, B., & Bhana, D. (2025). A cross-cultural theoretical framework for understanding children's perspectives of gender in ECEC. In Brody et al. (Eds.), Young Children's Perspectives on Teacher Gender (pp. 17–27). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003401049-3

Bhana, D., Xu, Y., & Adriany, V. (2024). Gender and sexuality in Global South early childhood education. In Bhana, Xu, & Adriany (Eds.), Gendered and Sexual Norms in Global South Early Childhood Education (pp. 1–15). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003211600-1

Xu, Y., Warin, J., Thorpe, K., & Rohrmann, T. (2021). Researching men's career trajectories in ECEC. In Brody et al. (Eds.), Exploring Career Trajectories of Men in the ECEC Workforce (pp. 43–56). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003048473-6

Bhana, D., Xu, Y., & Emilsen, K. (2021). Masculinity, sexuality and resistance. In Brody et al. (Eds.), Exploring Career Trajectories of Men in the ECEC Workforce (pp. 138–150). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003048473-13

Xu, Y., & Woodyer, T. (2020). One child policy, China. In D. T. Cook (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies (pp. 1156–1157). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529714388.n426

Xu, Y. (2019). Doing Cross-cultural Research Fieldwork in Early Childhood Education & Care. In Tsang, Liu, & Hong (Eds.), Challenges and Opportunities in Qualitative Research (pp. 95–109). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5811-1_8

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Research Projects

The Hong Kong experience: memories of new immigrant families in Nottingham

Role: Co-investigator

Funding: AHRC Impact Acceleration Account, University of Nottingham

Amount: Β£11,927.6

Period: 2024-2025

The potential of Froebelian philosophy to support and engage low-income families in the early years

Role: Co-investigator

Funding: Froebel Trust

Amount: Β£43,243

Period: 2023-2024

Teacher Education for Sustainable Development and Children's Rights: UK-China Dialogues

Role: Principal Investigator

Funding: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, University of Nottingham

Amount: Β£11,064

Period: 2022-2023

Understanding young children's perspectives on and experiences of COVID-19 in China and the UK

Role: Principal Investigator

Funding: UCL-ZJU Strategic Partner Fund

Amount: Β£10k

Period: 2021-2022